An Interview With Berlin’s Porsche Expert: Thomas Lundt Of The Renowned Lundtauto

Since I moved to Berlin I have been constantly exploring the local car scene and all the activities related to classic cars. That didn’t go unnoticed in the dynamic world of Instagram and I was recently contacted by Henry, a member of the Lundt family, who kindly invited me to visit Lundtauto Sportwagen Service, one of the best Porsche workshops in Berlin. It’s managed as a family business and it’s basically one of the best places to visit in town, with an impressive amount of beautiful Porsches outside in the main garage waiting to be fixed or restored.

Today, I’m happy to say that Henry is part of the Carphiles team – he calls himself the Carphiles Ambassador! He supports me a lot with his trust in my projects and also through connecting me with a lot of interesting people from the car scene here in Berlin.

But one of the best things about my visit to Lundtauto Sportwagen Service was that I had the pleasure of a really inspiring conversation with Henry’s father, Thomas Lundt, a Porsche enthusiast with more than 35 years of experience in the field. I asked him some questions about how everything started and what’s he up to nowadays.

Thomas, when and what inspired you to start Lundtauto?

It was at Le Mans when I attended the 24-hour race. I noticed that the French Porsche importer’s name was SONAUTO, so I decided to go with the name of Lundtauto once I would have my own shop.

Why did you focus on Porsches specifically?

I’m a car mechanic (German: KFZ-Meister) and I promised myself: if fixing cars ever becomes my profession, I will care for special cars, in this case, Porsches.

What is the philosophy of Lundtauto while repairing and restoring a Porsche?

Our philosophy is that we share the passion for the vehicles with our customers: we always look at the car from our clients’ perspective – whether it is an early 356, 911 or even the new Macan. Every day we give our best to restore and service all of the cars in our workshop. This has been our motivation and I guess the key to success for more than 35 years now.

What was the first car that you fully restored at Lundtauto?

It was a 1973 Carrera RS 2.7 which I bought for myself, just for 8.000 Deutsche Mark in 1985, around 4.000 Euros today.

Can you tell me some of the more memorable cars that you have come across in your years at Lundtauto?

Simply every Porsche we restore is special, but from on to the next, we improved our quality. Every Porsche we restored is part of our history.

What is your current restoration project?

We now have five 911s between 1965 and 1972 in our body shop.

When did you start working with your daughter and how it is to work with the family?

We are a family company: beside my wife and my nephew, my daughter, Alicja works at Lundtauto. She started in 2009 to learn the profession and became the youngest “KFZ-Meisterin” ever in 2011. Now – with much more knowledge and responsibility – she is the managing director of Lundtauto leading the company with me.

What do you think about the current Porsche Classics market in comparison to the times back when you started Lundtauto?

In the last 5 years market developed towards a level that I honestly never could have imagined. Not only the prices of the vehicles but also the costs for parts and the maintenance. A lot of people were looking for fast profits in the market but without a lot of substantial value behind it. Still, the demand is bigger than the supply, but overall the market has calmed over the last 18 months. Now we can see a state development. We think that this is a good situation: first, the access to a used Porsche is still “more or less” realistic for people and secondly, the prices for good quality are becoming reasonable.

What is the most beautiful Porsche ever designed in your opinion?

All the 911s until 1998, just air-cooled of course.

Any dream car?

I have my dream cars in my garage. Honestly, there weren’t my “dream cars” when I bought them, but over time they just became my favourites.

Since I moved to Berlin I have been constantly exploring the local car scene and all the activities related to classic cars. That didn’t go unnoticed in the dynamic world of Instagram and I was recently contacted by Henry, a member of the Lundt family, who kindly invited me to visit Lundtauto Sportwagen Service, one of the best Porsche workshops in Berlin.

Last month I had the pleasure to go on a little trip to Autostadt, which is located two hours away from Berlin in the city of Wolfsburg. It is a place full of activities about the realm of mobility and one of the world’s largest car-delivery centers surrounded by friendly people, striking architecture as well as amazing cars…

At the beginning of the year I decided to spend some days in Barcelona visiting my good friends there. I always try to find places related to classic cars in the cities that I visit, this time I found Auto Storica. Gonzalo, a car lover and part of the team of this amazing place, gave me a complete tour showing me all the steps of the process of restoring an oldtimer.

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On May 15th, I had my first experience at the 1000 Miglia – and it was amazing! There were some of the most incredible cars of the automotive history on the road today and I think 1000 Miglia is an ode to the golden times of the automobile.

My recent trip to Miami was my very first time in this magnificent city. While I was exploring I found one of the greatest concrete parking lots I’ve ever been to – it perfectly matched with the 912 I was about to shoot. It is one of the most important things for me to have a great ambiance for a great car! I think I have a special feeling for the 912 in particular.

I have a special affinity for the E24, it was the first classic that I photographed properly. I feel the M6 is an incredible car. I enjoyed it on different occasions in Berlin, and outside of the city in summer and spring for a drive with my friend. For this reason, you will see different locations in the photos below.

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